Feedback helps most when you turn each comment into a revision you can explain. Sort the comments, fix what you understand, learn what you do not, and log the change.
This page follows on from Accounting coursework help that keeps the work yours, which explains where fair help stops.
What are the five steps?
- Read all comments once, without editing.
- Sort into three piles: understood and doable, understood but unclear how, and not understood.
- Fix the first pile and note each change.
- For the second and third piles, study the method on separate examples, then return to your own work.
- Reread the whole task, because one fix can affect other figures.
Step 5 matters in Accounting more than in most subjects. Change one balance and three later totals may change too.
Worked example: one comment, one revision
This is an original scenario. A teacher’s comment on a student’s ledger account reads: “Closing balance brought down on the wrong side.”
The student’s account shows debits of RM5 400 and credits of RM3 200, so the balance is a debit of RM2 200. The student wrote the balance brought down on the credit side.
The student checks the method. The balance is carried down on the credit side to make the two totals equal, and brought down on the debit side below the totals. The student fixes the layout, then checks that the trial balance and later statements use a debit balance.
The fix takes five minutes. The step 5 check takes longer, and it is the part that shows you understand.
A sample evidence log entry
| Date | Comment | What I changed | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Oct | Balance on the wrong side | Moved RM2 200 brought down to the debit side | The balance is a debit, so it is brought down as a debit |
Keep one short line per change. The keeping an evidence and transaction log page shows a fuller format.
If the task uses a spreadsheet
If your task includes a spreadsheet, check formulas against accounting logic, not only against the answer. A formula that adds drawings to expenses will give a number, and the number will be wrong. Checking spreadsheet formulas against accounting logic shows how.
When one-to-one tuition may help
If you understand what the comment says but not why it is wrong, a teacher can explain the method using different numbers and ask you to apply it. Your own revision stays yours, because the examples are not from your submission.
See online one-to-one Accounting tuition for how starting works. Check your school’s rules about outside help before you begin.